


Don't leave me behind

by crookedspoon



Series: [std] Four Hundreds [9]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Alternate Universe - Normal Life, Friendship/Love, Loss, M/M, Male Friendship, POV Barrington Whelk, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 22:20:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12375321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedspoon/pseuds/crookedspoon
Summary: Even after you lost everything, he picked you up as if it were a normal Tuesday.





	Don't leave me behind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [galateaofthewestside](https://archiveofourown.org/users/galateaofthewestside/gifts).



> For #459 "Cheap Date" at slashthedrabble on LJ and Day #15 "Intimacy" at Inktober for writers.

Sometimes, you hate how grateful you are to the boy you've reluctantly come to think of as your boyfriend. He used to be just a guy friend, just your roommate, just another nobody without a goal in life.

That lack of ambition had been distasteful to you once, now it's something you can rely upon. Since he demands nothing from himself, he also demands nothing from you. That is... curious, to say the least. But it's also a relief, because after you lost everything – your fortune, your possessions, your girlfriends – you didn't lose him.

He picked you up as if it were a normal Tuesday, which, for him, it might have been. He wasn't your friend for your money or your connections. He just fell in with you because you were there, because you tolerated him.

You thought that would change after you got kicked out of the dorms, but he still met with you to complain about his new roommate.

You remember hating him for not having a care in the world while you had to scrape by, actually _working_ for a living and having to go to a public high school for your diploma, although you could have led the classes for those ingrates yourself and it would have been an improvement.

In practice, however, it was difficult to hate Noah. He's one of those annoying personalities you'd have steered clear of given half the chance, but when they got close to you they had a curious knack of making you feel better about yourself.

You never thought about your differences in wealth and status when you were together. He'd provide milkshakes and fries when you met up, but it never felt like charity. Just as if he were picking up your order.

You're used to grand gestures, to taking your girlfriends out in style and showering them with gifts, but that had never been the two of you. He was never arm candy to you, not a trophy to be won, or a treasure to be displayed. He was simply your friend and you were comfortable in his company.

It felt natural to be hiking in the woods with him, seeking out the trail of a mystical king, and watching the stars from the roof of his Mustang at the end of the night.

It was under the stars, too, that you first kissed. Work had been grinding you raw and school was miserable with everyone reminding you of what you'd lost. He could have reminded you of the same, but that wasn't his way.

You never broke down in front of him, but considered it once or twice, because he felt that safe. Still, you couldn't bring yourself to, because you knew how understanding he'd be, how bent on making you feel better.

You couldn't accept that, even on your worst days. It was easier to deflect somehow, and derailing him by pressing your mouth to his seemed like the thing to do at the time.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Fighting the Gravity" by blink-128.


End file.
